UK confirms minehunter retirement dates
Sandown-class minehunter HMS Blyth was retired in August. (Photo: MoD/ Crown Copyright.)
The UK will have paid off its existing mine countermeasure fleet by 2031.
The UK RN is progressing with plans to divest its mine countermeasure vessel fleet, confirming on 6 September that the service would retire all its remaining Sandown-class vessels by 2025.
The RN's other type of minehunters, the Hunt-class, will be phased out between 2029 and 2031.
Answering a parliamentary question about the plans to retire the mine countermeasure vessels, UK Minister for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin said: 'On current plans, the Hunt-class Mine Countermeasures Vessels will leave service between 2029 and 2031 and the Sandown-class Mine Countermeasures Vessels will leave service between 2021 and 2025.'
In August,
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